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News Analysis The science story that captured more headlines than any other in 2008 was the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) located on the French-Swiss border.

It took nearly 20 years to complete, cost approximately US$10 billion and was billed as the biggest physics experiment of all time.

For a week, everyone was an expert on the Higgs boson - despite not knowing what it was.

Some people were concerned that the LHC would create a mini-black hole, which would swallow the earth and eventually the universe.

After several successful tests and no black holes, a fault in one of its magnets caused the LHC to be shutdown. It is not expected to be operational again until the middle of 2009.

Mother of a fossil

In Australia, scientists announced in the journal Nature that they had found a 380-million year-old fossilised fish, which was in the process of giving birth.

The fish, named Materpiscis attenboroughi after documentary maker Sir David Attenborough, is the world's oldest-known vertebrate mother.

The researchers' work also gained the interest of Queen Elizabeth II, who joined their press conference live from London.

Space

Faraway on Mars, a spacecraft named Phoenix landed near the planet's north pole. Several days later, a scoop dug into the surface and revealed a patch of frozen material, which was later confirmed to be frozen water.

Elsewhere in space, the Cassini spacecraft found icy geysers blasting out of Saturn's moon Enceladus, while the Messenger spacecraft revealed previously unseen features on the planet Mercury.

Links galore

Men headed into the sunshine after Sydney researchers found that a dose of vitamin D improves male fertility, and a controversial study from Melbourne found that heavy marijuana use reduces the size of the brain.

A New Zealand study identified a link between early childhood paracetamol use and the onset of asthma, while UK researchers warned of a link between the plastic ingredient bisphenol A and heart disease.

Austrian researchers restored our faith in humanity by proving that children are hard-wired to share, and a Japanese study found praise pleases us just as much as a reward - don't tell the boss though.

Weird and wonderful

This review wouldn't be complete without some of the weird and wonderful research that made headlines.

Japanese space scientists designed a paper aeroplane that can re-enter the earth's atmosphere, while German researchers confirmed that absinthe isn't the psychedelic beverage many believed it was.

Most people will be thinking twice about wrapping presents after it was revealed that pulling sticky tape produces x-rays.

But the best application of scientific research has to go to a group of Californian researchers who extracted yeast from a 45-million-year old weevil preserved in amber, to create beer. We'll drink to that!